23-01-09
Eva v. V.
Block B

Big Idea: Many important practical and mathematical applications involve comparing quantities of one kind or another; it is important to know which method to use and how we should use them.

Investigation 1: Making Comparisons

Essential Question:
What methods are there for comparing things?

1.2 Targeting an Audience
A survey of 100 students at Neilson Middle School found that 60 students prefer watching television in the evening and 40 prefer listening to the radio.
A. Read the statements below about how Neilson students prefer to spend their evenings. Tell whether each statement accurately reports the results of the survey. Explain your answers.
1. ' 6 out of 10 students prefer television to radio' is accurate because it's the same as 60 out of 100, and the result WAS 60 out of 100.
2. ' Students prefer radio to television by a ratio of 4 to 6' is accurate because it's the same as saying 40% likes radio, while 60% likes television.
3. ' Students who prefer television outnumber those who prefer radio by 20' is accurate because 60 people prefer tv, 40 prefer radio, and the difference is 20.
4. ' Students who prefer television outnumber those who prefer radio by a ratio of 3 to 2' is accurate because it's the same as saying by a ratio of 6 to 4, just in half.
5. ' The number of students who prefer television is 1.5 times the number who prefer radio' is accurate because 40 (the number who prefer radio) x 1.5 = 60 (the number who prefer television).
6. ' 40% of students prefer radio to television' is accurate because 40 out of a 100 = 40%.
7. ' 3/5 of the students prefer television to radio' is accurate because 3/5 = 0.6, also 60%, and multiplied by 2, 3/5 = 6/10

B. If you were writing a paper to convince local merchants that they would reach more students by advertising on radio than on television, which statement from above would you use? Why?
I would use the 6th statement, (40% of students prefer radio to television) because it leaves out the number of people surveyed, it states that 40% of students prefer RADIO to television, and 40% is quite a lot.

C. Imagine that you are the advertising director for a television station in the town where Neilson is located. You have been asked to prepare a report for a meeting between your ad department and a large local skateboard manufacturer. Which accurate statement from above would you use to try to convince the manufacturer to advertise on your station? Why?
I'd use the 1st statement ( 6 out of 10 students prefer television to radio) because it's stating that more than half of the students prefer television, and so if they advertise on my station, they'll reach more than half of the people and their ad will be seen more.

Follow-Up
Number of people that prefer TV
Number of people that prefer internet
7
9

1. For each statement in part A on page 7, write a similair statement about your class data.
1. 9 out of 16 people prefer internet over TV.
2. Students prefer TV to internet by a ratio of 7 to 9.
3.Students who prefer internet outnumber those who prefer TV by 2.
4. ???
5. The number of students who prefer internet is 1.2 times the number who prefer TV.
6. 43.75% prefer TV to internet.
7. 9/16 of the students prefer internet to TV.

2. In what ways is your class data similair to the Neilson data? In what ways is your data different?
Our class data isn't similair at all to the Neilson data, except that they're both sets of data from a survey of students. They're different because we changed radio to internet, we only asked 16 people, and less people preferred TV.

3. You may have heard people talk about an interest group manipulating data to promote their cause. This doesn't mean they used incorrect data, but that they made careful decisions about which data to use and how to represent the data to support their cause. How could you manipulate your class data to persuade local merchants to advertise on radio rather than on television?
We could leave out the number of people that took the survey, and the number of people that preferred television so it seems as if a lot of people like radio above TV.